MTR Western

{{Infobox Bus transit

| name = MTR Western

| logo = MTR Western Logo.png

| logo_size = 250

| image =

| image_caption =

| company_slogan = "Driven by Passion"

| parent =

| founded = 2003

| headquarters = Seattle, Washington

| locale = USA

| service_area = Western United States

| service_type = contract service, charter service

| alliance =

| routes =

| destinations =

| stops =

| hubs = Seattle (main office), Portland, Eugene, Spokane

| stations =

| lounge =

| fleet = Federal Mini Coach
Krystal Mini Coach
Prevost H3-45, X3-45
Setra S417
TEMSA Safari
Van Hool Double Decker

| ridership =

| fuel_type =

| operator =

| ceo = Marka Waechter

| website = [http://www.mtrwestern.com/ MTR Western]

}}

MTR Western is an American motorcoach operator active in the western United States and Canada.

Services

MTR Western provides group charters, sightseeing tours, driver-narrated tour programs,{{cite web

|url=http://www.mtrwestern.com/

|title=The Online Home of MTR Western

|accessdate=2008-06-19

|work=MTR Western company website

|date= }} and on-call emergency transportation.{{cite web|url=http://www.mtrwestern.com/emergency.services.html |title=Unhappy Campers |accessdate=2008-06-19 |work=MTR Western company website |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114190719/http://www.mtrwestern.com/emergency.services.html |archivedate=November 14, 2006 }}

Charter clients include corporate customers such as Microsoft, Nike, Intel, Google, and Yahoo, in addition to touring entertainers, campaigning political candidates,{{cite news

| author =

| title = MTR Western Responds to Misleading Statements about Gregoire's Motorcoach

| url = https://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS220208+11-Apr-2008+BW20080411

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080725160433/http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS220208+11-Apr-2008+BW20080411

| url-status = dead

| archive-date = July 25, 2008

| work = Business Wire

| publisher = Reuters

| date = April 11, 2008

| accessdate = 2008-06-19

}} and college and professional sports teams. They carry essentially all of the NFL and Major League Baseball teams that visit Seattle.{{Cite news

| last = Hubbard

| first = David

| title = MTR Western "delivers the mail"

| newspaper = BUSRide

| pages = 20–22

| date = February 2007

| url = http://www.busride.com }}

Tour clients include Tauck World Discovery, American West Steamboat Company, Caravan Tours, Contiki Tours, and Trafalgar Tours.

MTR Western operates two lines of the POINT Intercity Bus Service in Oregon.

History

MTR Western was founded in Seattle, Washington in 2003 by Darren Berg with four Prevost H3-45 motorcoaches. By 2007, they were one of the largest premium motorcoach companies in North America, with facilities in Seattle, Portland, Spokane, Eugene, The Dalles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Vancouver, and Calgary, and winner of the BUSRide 2006 Motorcoach Industry Achievement Award.

MTR Western's three-year growth of 1,214.9% earned it national recognition in Inc. Magazine's "Inc. 500", a list of America's fastest growing private companies in 2007. The list ranks MTR Western as number 166 in the U.S., number 9 in Washington State, and number 3 in the Transportation category.{{cite web

|url= http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2007/company-profile.html?id=200701660

|title= Inc. 500 number 166: MTR Western

|accessdate= 2008-06-19

|year= 2007

|publisher= Inc. Magazine

}}

In 2008 they debuted in Metro Magazine's "Motorcoach Top 50" at number 17.{{Cite news

| last = Starcic

| first = Janna

| title = Coach America Grabs the Reins in Motorcoach Top 50

| newspaper = Metro Magazine

| pages = 22–23

| date = January 2008

| url = http://metro-magazine.epubxpress.com/wps/portal/metro/c0/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3iLkCAPEzcPIwMDC0NTAyNT3yAjM6MQQ0dDI_1I_ShzXPJmzib6ISATM_UjDS2MTEHMYv1IAxBdoB9pZKRfkJ2YVJUaqQgAgNx42Q!!/ }}. MTR Western is known for their award-winning "compelling and creative" bus wrap designs.{{Cite news

| title = 2007 BUSRide/Avery Dennison Graphics MotorVision Competition winners

| newspaper = BUSRide

| pages = 18–19

| date = November 2007

| url = http://www.busride.com }}

Darren Berg funneled millions of dollars from a Ponzi scheme into MTR Western. After Berg's arrest in 2010, he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and a bankruptcy trustee sold Berg's assets.{{cite news |last1=Grunbaum |first1=Rami |title=Bus company fueled by alleged scam to be sold |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/business/bus-company-fueled-by-alleged-scam-to-be-sold/ |access-date=March 14, 2022 |work=The Seattle Times |date=November 16, 2010}} On January 14, 2011, MTR announced the sale of MTR Western and OC&W Coachways to GTO LLC.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mtrwestern.com/mtrpressrelease1-14-2011.pdf |title=MTR Western & OC&W Coachways Acquired |format=Press release |accessdate=2011-05-01}} The lead investor in GTO is Howard S. Wright III, co-owner of the Space Needle.{{Cite web| title = Space Needle co-owner to buy Berg bus co.| work = Puget Sound Business Journal| accessdate = 2021-10-11| url = http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/2010/11/bergs-bus-company-sold-to-space.html}}

=Gregoire license plate controversy=

On April 10, 2008, MTR Western became involved in a controversy between the Washington State Republican Party and Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire. In a press release,{{cite press release

| title = Gregoire Driving An Oregon Bus on Re-Election Tour

| publisher = Washington State Republican Party

| date = April 10, 2008

| url = http://www.wsrp.org/News/Read.aspx?ID=7584

| accessdate = 2008-06-19

}}

State Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser said, "Gov. Gregoire has been making it harder and harder for businesses to survive here in our state for three years, so it's no surprise that her campaign hired a bus with Oregon license plates to save money. The symbolism of Gov. Gregoire's bus tour couldn't be plainer."

Washington-based MTR Western responded the next day with a press release citing Federal law: "Our Oregon license plates are issued pursuant to the International Registration Plan (IRP), which was created by wise federal legislation put into place to simplify the registration of commercial vehicles that travel in interstate commerce," said MTR Western CEO and founder Darren Berg. "It's disheartening to be associated with misleading statements that support an opinion that business opportunities are grim in the state of Washington."

One columnist from traditionally Republican Eastern Washington wrote of the controversy, "On Thursday the state Republican Party issued a press release titled "Gregoire Driving An Oregon Bus on Re-Election Tour" that screamed of scandal... Long story short, there’s no story here, much less a full blown scandal."{{cite news

| first = Chris

| last = Mulick

| title = That Gregoire license plate scandal? Never mind.

| url = http://www.tri-cityherald.com/944/story/154381.html

| work = TriCity Herald

| date = April 11, 2008

| accessdate = 2008-06-19

}}

Associated Companies

=OC&W Coachways=

MTR Western purchased Eugene, Oregon-based Oregon Coachways in 2006 from owners Donald Moorehead and John Mikulvich. The company, now named OC&W Coachways, provides no-frills charter bus service in Oregon, California, and Washington.{{cite press release

| title = Meridian Transportation Resources, LLC Signs Agreement to Acquire Oregon Coachways and Announces Plans To Introduce New "Price Driven" Charter Motorcoach Brand

| publisher = MTR Western

| date = September 19, 2006

| url = http://www.mtrwestern.ca/press_pass_pages/PressRelease001.pdf

| accessdate = 2008-06-20

}}{{cite web

| title = OC&W Coachways home page

| publisher =

| date =

| url = http://www.ocwbus.com/

| accessdate = 2008-06-19}}

=GeoGenius=

{{Infobox company

| name = GeoGenius, LLC

| logo = geogenius logo.png

| type = Privately held company

| foundation = 2007

| founder = Darren Berg

| location = Seattle, Washington
USA

| industry = Tourism

| products = GPS-triggered travel guides

| services =

| market cap =

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| owner =

| num_employees =

| parent =

| divisions =

| subsid =

| homepage = [http://www.geogenius.com GeoGenius]

}}

GeoGenius was a company based in Seattle, Washington that produced travel-related audio and video content for GPS-enabled devices.{{cite press release

| title = MTR Western announces formation of GeoGenius

| publisher = MTR Western

| date = September 25, 2007

| url = http://mtrwestern.com/press_pass_pages/GeoGenius.pdf

| accessdate = 2008-06-18

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090731045734/http://mtrwestern.com/press_pass_pages/GeoGenius.pdf

| archive-date = July 31, 2009

| url-status = dead

}}

GeoGenius was founded by CEO Darren Berg in 2007. The company's first client was the parent company, which contracted them to develop GPS-triggered audio and video content for use by their motorcoach tour customers.{{cite journal

| last =

| first =

| date = October 15, 2007

| title = MTR Western Launches New Service To Provide Content Using GPS Technology

| journal=ABA Insider

| volume = 1

| issue = 7

| pages = 7

| publisher=American Bus Association

| url = http://www.buses.org/files/ABAInsider_101507.pdf

| language =

| quote =

}}

The GeoGenius proof of concept, a multiple channel, multiple interest, GPS-triggered 7-day tour from San Francisco to Seattle, commenced operation in May, 2007. Another video tour was scheduled to be installed on MTR Western's "hop on, hop off" city sightseeing tour of Vancouver, B.C. in April 2008.{{cite journal

| last =

| first =

| date = January 7, 2008

| title = MTR Western Expands Vancouver Operations

| journal=ABA Insider

| volume = 1

| issue = 13

| pages = 7

| publisher=American Bus Association

| url = http://www.buses.org/files/ABAInsider_010708.pdf

| language =

| quote =